Sunday, August 28, 2016

Let's face it, there are a lot of different types of cakes out there to choose from. As a food blogger, I have found my food cravings are a lot more specific than they were prior to blogging. Recently, I found myself craving a buttery moist, slice of cake with tender crumb.

This particular recipe was spot on when it came to my preferences at the time. It teams both butter and shortening together to create a velvety texture. It also uses a vanilla/ butter/ nut flavoring which makes it unique, yet memorable. Lastly, sprinkled throughout this delicious cake are crunchy walnuts and sweet maraschino cherries.

Now that the craving has hit home, let's move on to the the details of this special recipe. You will need a 10 cup bundt pan in order to make this.

Prepare a 10 cup bundt pan by greasing and flouring the interior. Make sure all cracks and curves are well coated.

Toss the cooled walnuts in 1/3 cup of flour. In another bowl, whisk together 2 1/3 cup of the flour and salt. Set both bowls aside.

Fill the bowl of a stand mixer with the butter and shortening. Cream together until completely blended. Add the sugar and the flavoring and beat on medium speed for 1 minute, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides. Once the mixture is fluffy with no lumps, add one egg and beat for about 20 seconds to distribute into the batter. Repeat the process with each egg, adding them one by one.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and stir in the evaporated milk. Fold in the flour/salt blend in three increments until no dry streaks remain. Mix the floured walnuts into the batter. Lastly, toss in the cherries and distribute throughout the batter by stirring with a wooden spoon.

Pour or scoop the batter into the pan, making sure it is smooth and even. Place pan in cold oven and turn the temperature gauge to 300 degrees. Let bake until toothpick comes out clean. The cake will bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes up to 2 hours. Start checking at the 1 hour 30 minute mark. Mine took about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Let the cake rest in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes. It will be crusty on top, so take a small knife and run along the top edge. Then invert cake onto rack to finish cooling.

Tips and Notes:
1. Probably adding more nuts and cherries would be a good idea, be sure to dust all the walnuts prior to mixing in.
2. Do not slice until completely cool.
3. I used LorAnn vanilla butter nut flavoring and just added 1 tbs, since it is strong then regular extract.
4. Prior to serving, you can dust with powdered sugar. You can also glaze the cake, but it really is sweet enough on its own.
4. The batter in the pan was only 1 inch below the top edge. There is no leavening ingredient in the recipe so the cake does not rise very much.
5. I used Luxardo brand maraschino cherries, which you can find at some liquor stores. However, one jar is double the amount called for in the recipe.**LAST YEAR: Boo Boo Pie**

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Sometimes variety can be a bad thing. We get too much to choose from and then we don't want anything. That situation can also be too overwhelming. For instance, I have always wanted to go to this place that has a selection of 1000 styles of eyeglass frames. It is a nice thought, but in reality I know that I would spend all day there and probably could not make up my mind between several frames. Eventually, I would either leave with nothing or settle on one; thinking I should have got the other.

This particular cookie recipe can be the solution to having too many types of cookies to choose from. One of these gems holds a lot of flavor and texture. As you are eating these cookies, your taste buds will recall a myriad of different cookies.

They have crispy edges and an inner chewiness.You may also come across some crunchiness from the walnuts in the cookies. With oatmeal, cornflakes, spices, coconut, nuts and chocolate, they are bursting with a variety of flavor. The variety is there, but it is nicely balanced. Labeling these as simply oatmeal cookies or spice cookies would be more deceptive instead of descriptive.

In reality, taste is the major concern here, not the label. So, let's move on to the baking.....This recipe makes 6-7 dz cookies.

Sift together all four spices, flour, baking powder and salt in a medium size bowl. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Set both aside.

Place butter and both kinds of sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream together the butter and sugar by beating at medium speed until fluffy. Add the egg mixture and then beat on low until combined. Remove bowl from stand mixer.

Now, it is time for the add-ins to the batter. Using a wooden spoon, mix in one add-in at a time until evenly distributed. Blend in the order as listed: corn flakes, oats, sifted ingredients, coconut, chocolate chips and nuts.

Using a scoop or spoon, drop by heaping teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets. They mounds should be placed about 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 5 minutes and rotate and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Check cookies to see if they are a golden hue and spring back when lightly touched, if not, bake for an additional few minutes.

Remove pan and let rest on rack for 2 minutes. Then transfer cookies to rack to completely cool.

Tips and Notes:
1. Walnuts, pine nuts and peanuts were the suggested type of nut in the recipe, but you can choose whichever you prefer.

2. For a thicker cookie, add more flour to absorb the butter and refrigerate dough prior to baking so it does not spread as much. Test your dough to see how it bakes up.

3. The recipe does suggest making a bar cookie if you are short on time. Use a 10x15 pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

4. Be sure to use plain corn flakes, not frosted. The cookie is sweet enough without this added sugar.

5. A note on ounces when it comes to brands of chocolate chips. Nestle still carries the 12 oz bag, however the more gourmet chocolate brands have been reduced to 11.5 oz. Keep this in mind when buying ingredients.**LAST YEAR:Honey Glazed Berry Scones**

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Well summer is at an end. School is right around the corner as well as cooler weather. In order to say goodbye to summer, I decided to make this peach upside down cake. The addition of rum makes it a delicious adult dessert.

Teaming juicy carmelized fruit with fluffy tender cake is nothing short of an amazing combination. These days, upside down cakes are not just limited to pineapple. I have seen cranberry and pear- the list goes on. The only thing to take into consideration would be the juiciness of the fruit. For instance, an orange upside down cake would be quite different from apple. Peaches put out quite an amount of juice, so please review tips and notes on this issue in particular if you plan to make this.

In this recipe, the caramel is made in a skillet and then the fruit goes in. After that, the batter is put on top and it then goes in to bake. You can use a cast iron skillet or a springform pan. It comes together quite quickly once all the prep work of peeling and slicing the peaches is completed.

Start by preparing the peaches by slicing into 1/2 inch pieces. Place in a bowl and toss with the lemon juice and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If you are not baking this in a cast iron skillet, you will use a 9 inch springform pan. This pan should be lined on the bottom and 1 inch up the sides with parchment paper.

Fill a 10-12 cast iron skillet (if you intend to bake the cake in it) or saucepan with the 3 tbs of butter. Place pan over medium heat and melt. Once melted, stir in the brown sugar. Continue to stir until brown sugar is no longer grainy, it will become smoother as it cooks. Then, mix in the honey and lower the heat.

As that is cooking, drain the peaches in a sieve. Slowly add the peach slices to the brown sugar mixture, stirring to insure that all sides are coated. Stir gently until all slices are glossy. This should take about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. If you are baking in a cast iron skillet, make sure all the peaches are spread evenly along the bottom of the pan and let the pan cool. Otherwise, empty the saucepan into the springform pan and spread peach mixture evenly along the bottom. Set aide.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium size bowl. Then take out a larger bowl and add the 6 tbs of the butter and white sugar. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and light. Add one egg and almond extract, then beat for 30 seconds. Add the remaining egg and beat.

Once all is blended, fold in 1/3 of the sifted ingredients into the egg batter. Pour in 1/2 cup of rum and stir until blended. Add 1/2 of the remaining dry ingredients and fold in. Stir in the remaining amount of rum and lastly, fold in the rest of the sifted ingredients.

Using a large spoon, drop spoonfuls of batter on top of the peach mixture. Once all is on top of the peaches, smooth the batter to the edges. Place pan or skillet in oven to bake until tester comes out clean. This should take about 45 minutes if baking in a cast iron skillet or longer with a springform. pan. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before flipping over and removing parchment. The cake is best served at room temperature.

Tips and Notes:
1. I baked my cake in a 12 inch springform pan. There was still enough of a peach layer to cover the bottom completely, so there was no change there. I believe a 9 inch pan would have a much thicker coating of peaches at the bottom. Regarding the batter, it was 1 1/2 times the ratio of the above recipe.
2. My caramel mixture turned quite watery after adding the peaches. In order to compensate, I added another 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup more of honey. I let it cook down a bit more to let some of the juices evaporate, so it became more like caramel again.
3. The rum flavoring of the cake was quite prevalent. As you know, the flavor gets stronger with time. Should you not want to use rum, feel free to use peach nectar or some peach liqueur. **LAST YEAR: Citrus Snap Cookies**

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Today I wanted to test some muffin recipes I found on line. The first is a lemon poppy seed muffin that is made with oil and in comparison is a muffin made with butter.

As far as taste, the lemon muffin was moist and had a well balanced flavor of lemon. The syrup soak on top really gave it a nice pop of citrus.This muffin, even though moist, was denser than the other.

The spice muffin rose a lot taller and fluffier than the other. It was more like the traditional muffin you find in bakeries and coffee houses. However, I wished it was a little less dry. Also, a lot of the streusel ended up on the pan instead of on the muffin. Next time I would try an extra tablespoon of oil in the batter and a different type of streusel. This muffin had a cinnamon-nutmeg flavor, but it could use some more spice.

Overall, my vote is for the lemon poppy seed. Using oil seems to bring out a moister baked good. Better in texture and stronger in flavor than the spice muffins, the decision was not a difficult one. Both recipes are below and each make about 1 dozen muffins.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease or line muffin tin cavities with paper cups.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. Fill another bowl with the butter and sugar. Beat together until light and fluffy. Add one egg and beat until blended thoroughly. Continue with this process for the each of the remaining eggs until all is blended in.

At this time, the nut topping should be made. Simply add all topping ingredients to bowl and mix together until everything is evenly distributed. Set aside.

Now, back to making the batter...Add 1/2 of the sifted ingredients into the batter and fold in, using a wooden spoon. Then blend in the buttermilk. Lastly, stir in the remaining sifted ingredients just until combined.

Using a scoop, fill the muffin cavities 3/4 full of batter. Once all the batter is used up, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of topping over all the muffins. There is a time factor here, the longer you take the more apt the topping will sink, so act quickly.

Place in oven and bake until tester comes out clean. This should take about 20-25 minutes. Let muffins cool in pan for a few minutes then transfer to rack to finish cooling.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare a muffin tin by greasing the cavities and upper edges with butter. As an alternative, just grease the upper edges of the cavities and line with paper cups.

In a medium size bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Using another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, egg, zest, extract, poppy seeds and one cup of the sugar. Fold in the sifted ingredients until just combined.

Using a scoop, fill the muffin cavities evenly with the batter. Place pan in oven and bake until tester comes out clean. This should take about 20 minutes. The muffins will be slightly golden in color on top when done.

While the muffins are baking, prepare the syrup. Fill a small microwavable bowl with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and the 1/4 cup of lemon juice. Heat on high for 1 minute.

Once the muffins are done, let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Then dip the top of each in warm syrup and place on rack to finish cooling. After dipping if any syrup still remains, spoon on top of the muffins to soak in.**Last Year:Almond Marzipan Roulade**